Will Zinedine Zidane officially launch the 2024 Paris Olympics? Several clues show that this mission could only have been entrusted to him…
Zinedine Zidanehero of the 1998 World Cup, the first football World Cup won at home by the French team, but also hero of French sport in general, coming to light the Olympic cauldron in the Tuileries Gardens. The image makes you dream and the symbol would be strong for the Olympic Games that are also taking place in Paris. And it could become concrete this Friday, the day of the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Zidane has indeed been tipped to be the last torchbearer for several days now. While the greatest secrecy surrounds the identity of the latter, rumors also suggest the possibility that it will be the athlete Marie-José Pérec who will take on the noble task of symbolically launching the Games, by bringing the flame to her place of residence for the next two weeks.
The opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, this Friday, July 26, raises many questions about the artists who will participate. Rumors mention a show bringing together Céline Dion, Lady Gaga, Aya Nakamura and Juliette Armanet. But the presence of Zizou as the last bearer of the Olympic flame is also at the center of speculation. Since football is not the most representative sport of the Olympic Games, doubts remain.
Teddy Riner sows confusion over Zinedine Zidane
Yesterday, Teddy Riner, who was half-amused, half-irritated by the journalists’ questions on the subject, let slip in front of the cameras that he was “sure” that Zidane was not the last torchbearer. He added another layer in Le Parisien: “I am 1000% sure that Zidane will not be the last torchbearer”. Bluff, personal prediction, or real information? Riner had in any case given a clear point of view a few days ago on the subject, in preparation for the Games: “I would like it to be someone from the Olympic world. We talk enough about football, and this is the Olympics”.
Despite what the judoka may say, Zinédine Zidane has many qualities to be the last bearer. First, we remember that in 1992, it was a certain Michel Platini, another sacred monster of French football, who was responsible for lighting the cauldron in Albertville. Another essential attribute for this position: Zidane is undoubtedly one of the most famous French athletes in the world, with Kylian Mbappé, but with a much more extensive list of achievements to date, a World Cup, a European Cup, several European titles… And Zidane is also this symbol of diversity that the Paris Olympics want to convey, the incarnation of the France that was described as “black-white-beur” in 1998.
Zinedine Zidane therefore appears to be an obvious choice to light the Olympic cauldron this evening. Perhaps too much so, when we know that the organizers of the Paris Olympics 2024 have taken a mischievous pleasure in surprising and confounding predictions since the beginning of the project. The choice of a woman may also seem more logical for these Games, whose logo itself displays a female face and for a ceremony that will highlight female stars. And what if, finally, Zinédine Zidane and Marie-José Pérec appeared as a duo this evening, near the Louvre, holding the Olympic torch in both hands? The image would undoubtedly be even more beautiful.